It all starts with light… and ends with light

17 th Century Sketch of a Camera Obscura

from the Latin: “Dark Room”
Mozi knew it first
(China c400 BC)
Ibn al-Haytham knew it, clearly described it and actually made one (Arabia c1000 AD)
Aristotle knew it
(Greek c350 BC)

Camera Obscura circa 1750

Room Size Camera Obscura, San Francisco California

Thought to be first permanant photograph:
View from the Window at Le Gras (France)
By Joseph Nicéphore Niépce 1826

Boulevard du Temple, Paris
By Louis Daguerre in late 1838 or early 1839

The Crystal Palace at The Great Exhibition, London by Philip Henry Delamotte, 1854

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
1765 – 1833

Louis Daguerre
1787-1851

William Henry Fox Talbot by John Moffat, 1864

Sir John Frederick William Herschel
1792-1871

Roger Fenton, early war photographer
(Crimean War)
1819-1869

Roger Fenton's photographic van c1855

Photographer’s Studio circa 1895

Eastman Kodak Brownie Camera, circa 1900

Twin Lens Reflex

Rangefinder

Single Lens Reflex (SLR)

Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR)

Speeds faster than 1 second are fractions of a second and most cameras display them without the numerator. For example,
1/2 second is displayed as
2.
Speeds of 1 second or slower are whole seconds and many cameras indicate them with quotation or inch marks ("). For example, 2 seconds is displayed as 2".

Standard Shutter Speeds:
1/4 1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250 1/500 1/1000
Standard f-stops:
1.4 2.0 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22
Shutter Speed
1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250 1/500 1/1000 f/stop f/32 f/22 f/16 f/11 f/8 f/5.6 f/4 f/2.8

Sensor Sensitivity aka ISO or ASA

Depth of
Field
Example

Rule of Thirds Example